Sentinel MkIII blade + trainer + sheath - group buy

[808sheriff]

Also received my mk3 there was little surface rust but it cleaned right up. Has anyone had any issues with the live blade having a little wiggle while sheathed?

[voodoo_man]

Also received my mk3 there was little surface rust but it cleaned right up. Has anyone had any issues with the live blade having a little wiggle while sheathed?

Yeah it'll wiggle, that's due to the taco design of the sheath...

[DI1]

Mine fits tightly, no wiggle in the sheath.

[Shellback]

My taco sheath from DSG has no wiggle room for my Clinch Pick.

[TDA]

I have no wiggle with the live blade. The trainer has a hint of hesitation where the high points of the cord wrap hit the throat of the sheath, but really, whatever. I did have a spot of rust coming out of the USPS shipping wrap, wiped it down with a bit of slip 2000 and that's been fine.
If I were going to offer constructive criticism, I would suggest that a minute or two to deburr the edges of the clip on the sheath would not be wasted time. Maybe spray the blades with Rem Oil or something similar before handing off to USPS, since this journey will combine unknown time & unknown temperatures? The actual knife and sheath are right on target for me.

[SentinelGear]

Hey all,

I appreciate all the feedback - positive and otherwise. There were a number of issues with this run and everything has been/is being addressed. If anyone wants anything cleaned up, I'm happy to take care of that at no charge. Best way to contact me is email, and not the forum. I'll try to address some concerns here.

Rust - I am definitely now shipping these out with a nice coat of oil on the blades to keep this from happening. Nothing left my hands with rust on it. The clips have been especially bad apparently, this is due to the fact they are actually clips that I modify and cut up in house. I'll probably Cerakote them after the mods from now on. For what its worth, I also now make blades in 154cm.

Some of the cord wraps on the trainer slip. I realized this in my own training at some point and I changed how do it. Its pretty bombproof now. If anyone wants a new cord wrap, again - get in touch and I will take care of it.

Regarding the "roughness" of some of the finish. My motivation behind these is an affordable combative fixed blade entry into a niche with otherwise much more expensive offerings. This is a 100% handmade knife. At this price point, there is really only so much finish work I can put in. I can get everything clean and pretty - but the price would be higher. At any rate, I'm addressing this with my process as well.

Finally. Yes, the blades are chisel ground. Chisel ground blades are often tougher due their geometry and extra "meat" behind the edge. This is 100% a deliberate choice on my end. This isn't a utility knife and makes a terrible one at that. The shape and size of the blade lends itself well as an effective stabbing implement and really not much else. These could be edgeless and they would still function beautifully as intended.

At any rate, designs have evolved, processes changed, lessons learned.

Thank you all once again.

[SLG]

This post is for people thinking about buying the knife, as well as the maker, in case he wants more feedback. It is designed to be constructive, nothing else.

I need another pokey stabby thing like you know what. I have plenty of Pikal designs, a couple of which I have designed (with help and blessing from S'narc) and are available on the market. I have no financial interest in them, they were designed during a time when good Pikal knives were not easily available. That said, it is hard to pass up a new knife sometimes so I bit on the group deal. I bought the knife and sheath only, double edge.

It is reasonably priced for what it is, an inexpensive Pikal style knife. Tool marks and less than perfect finishing are to be expected at that price point and I don't object to either.

As S'narc mentioned, the handle is too thin. This is a very common problem with knives. I can make it work, but it really needs to be beefier all around.

The rat tail is fine for me, but some will certainly want more of a curve.

My copy came with some rust on the tip of the knife, as well as on the clip. Easily removed but not acceptable. I know steps are already being taken to prevent that in the future.

I don't prefer chisel grinds, as I find they offer no advantages to the non Bonsai farmer, and tend to be a cost cutting measure, as well as sometimes harder to sharpen. Again, at this price point, I don't object to the cost cutting aspect.

I suspect the tip is a bit too pointy and fragile to hold up to much stabbing, but I might be wrong. I will likely put it to the test in the next few days.

The sheath is confusing to me. I can't seem to re-insert the knife, in either direction, and feel like it is solidly in there. It also allows the knife to move around inside very freely, so that the edge contacts the inside sides of the sheath.

Finally, the knife is very dull. This, along with the sheath issue, are my biggest complaints. At any price point, there is no excuse for a maker to ship a knife that is dull. I know that the point of this knife is the point, but knives also have edges. Otherwise we could buy a cheap screwdriver for $2 and get twice as much use out of it.

As I said at the beginning, I'm not trying to beat up on the maker, or to scare away other purchasers. I would normally only tell these things to people who ask, and to the maker himself. In this case, since it was a group buy on P-F, I don't mind putting this out there for all to see. I know some of these issues are already being addressed, so it seems that the maker is both responsive and responsible. For a $150 knife, you really can't judge it like a Hartsfield. I think there is a lot of potential in the knife, as well as the maker, and look forward to seeing the evolution of the craft.

[SentinelGear]

This post is for people thinking about buying the knife, as well as the maker, in case he wants more feedback. It is designed to be constructive, nothing else.

I need another pokey stabby thing like you know what. I have plenty of Pikal designs, a couple of which I have designed (with help and blessing from S'narc) and are available on the market. I have no financial interest in them, they were designed during a time when good Pikal knives were not easily available. That said, it is hard to pass up a new knife sometimes so I bit on the group deal. I bought the knife and sheath only, double edge.

It is reasonably priced for what it is, an inexpensive Pikal style knife. Tool marks and less than perfect finishing are to be expected at that price point and I don't object to either.

As S'narc mentioned, the handle is too thin. This is a very common problem with knives. I can make it work, but it really needs to be beefier all around.

The rat tail is fine for me, but some will certainly want more of a curve.

My copy came with some rust on the tip of the knife, as well as on the clip. Easily removed but not acceptable. I know steps are already being taken to prevent that in the future.

I don't prefer chisel grinds, as I find they offer no advantages to the non Bonsai farmer, and tend to be a cost cutting measure, as well as sometimes harder to sharpen. Again, at this price point, I don't object to the cost cutting aspect.

I suspect the tip is a bit too pointy and fragile to hold up to much stabbing, but I might be wrong. I will likely put it to the test in the next few days.

The sheath is confusing to me. I can't seem to re-insert the knife, in either direction, and feel like it is solidly in there. It also allows the knife to move around inside very freely, so that the edge contacts the inside sides of the sheath.

Finally, the knife is very dull. This, along with the sheath issue, are my biggest complaints. At any price point, there is no excuse for a maker to ship a knife that is dull. I know that the point of this knife is the point, but knives also have edges. Otherwise we could buy a cheap screwdriver for $2 and get twice as much use out of it.

As I said at the beginning, I'm not trying to beat up on the maker, or to scare away other purchasers. I would normally only tell these things to people who ask, and to the maker himself. In this case, since it was a group buy on P-F, I don't mind putting this out there for all to see. I know some of these issues are already being addressed, so it seems that the maker is both responsive and responsible. For a $150 knife, you really can't judge it like a Hartsfield. I think there is a lot of potential in the knife, as well as the maker, and look forward to seeing the evolution of the craft.

Thanks for the feedback.

At this point I can confidently say everything mentioned here has been addressed. The blade has undergone some changes and the sheath has been redesgined as well.


The blade is now wider, which allows for a broader tip. The double edge blades definitely have a thinner tip by nature of the grind. By adding some more "belly," I can leave more metal at the tip which will will toughen it up. I have some other ideas as well for making the double edge blades tougher.

The handle shape is wider, and slightly longer. I like the way this feels better myself. I find no loss of concealability or comfort and find I like the way it handles better. The "hook" on the end has been made more aggressive.

I re-designed the sheath. The old sheath was designed to allow both a training blade and live blade to fit. I wanted to make training the blade affordable so people would actually do it. I used a sheath form to make the sheaths instead molding to the actual blade, and maybe this is why the fit may be ambiguous. It seems better to just include a second sheath for training, and maybe just make it minimal to keep the cost down. I'll post a picture when I can of the new sheath design.

If a knife got to you dull it was an oversight that I can easily correct. My process in getting a blade out has changed and this shouldn't be an issue.

I still like chisel grinds but can add an option for a conventional grind if people must have it. Again, I see no advantage on a blade not meant to "work."

[EPF]

Last two are after clean up. I need to play with it a bit to develop an opinion on the utility ]

Been carrying the knife as often as possible since it came in and I cleaned it up. Wore it on a family hike, worked out several times, sparred and rolled a few rounds with it, and other equally mundane things. I have to say that I really like the concept. My sheath was rock solid and locked up nicely through all of it, including a LOT of draws. Trainer stayed in there as well.

I think the design changes mentioned are spot on. But I have to say again that the knife and sheath package really hits a sweet spot for me when it comes to truly concealing a fixed blade and still being comfortable. It carried very well. If the grip and blade durability issues are worked out, this will be a sweet setup for concealment.

I now see what the Sayoc guys were going for with the rat. Gives a lot of capability in a concealable package.

This knife won't replace my other knives, but I think the "mark 3" has a lot of potential.

[voodoo_man]

Been carrying the knife as often as possible since it came in and I cleaned it up. Wore it on a family hike, worked out several times, sparred and rolled a few rounds with it, and other equally mundane things. I have to say that I really like the concept. My sheath was rock solid and locked up nicely through all of it, including a LOT of draws. Trainer stayed in there as well.

I think the design changes mentioned are spot on. But I have to say again that the knife and sheath package really hits a sweet spot for me when it comes to truly concealing a fixed blade and still being comfortable. It carried very well. If the grip and blade durability issues are worked out, this will be a sweet setup for concealment.

I now see what the Sayoc guys were going for with the rat. Gives a lot of capability in a concealable package.

This knife won't replace my other knives, but I think the "mark 3" has a lot of potential.

Group buy for the rat up right now....